Fighting for You
by grace2020
Summary: Matt faces off with his soon to be ex-brother in-law, but little does he know that Jim knows how to get to Matt. Meanwhile, Gabby is still working on becoming the best fire fighter she can, but something happens that puts her future in quesion.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: What do you Need?

"Matt you need to calm down," Gabby pleaded with her boyfriend as she placed her hands on his broad shoulders in hopes that he will see reason. She knew that he really wanted to protect his sister and niece, but there are other ways to handle this.

"You want me to calm down," he said narrowing his eyes in confusion.

"Just hear me out," She tells him as she moving her hands up his shoulders to his neck.

He didn't say anything, just nodded his head as he looked into her eyes. "I know that you love your family and that you are trying to be a better brother and I love that about you, but I worry that if you keep pursing this you are going to make it harder on Christy and Violet in the end."

Matt stepped out of Gabby's hold, "You didn't see him sitting there at that restaurant with his little piece not a care in the world, while Violet and Christy are making sacrifices to just get by." Matt ran his hands through his blonde hair as took in a deep breath, "I'm not just going to sit by and watch him hurt them; I am not my father."

Gabby's eyes grew wide with his admission as she stared at the man she loves, "Is this really what this about, becoming your father?"

"No, I know that I am nothing like him and that is why I will not let Jim hurt my sister. He is not going to get away with everything that he has done and when I see him in the morning I will make it clear."

Gabby could tell that no matter what she said right now, it wouldn't make a difference. "Okay," she breathed out as she nodded her head, "Do what you feel is right and I will support you."

After a moment of silence, Matt closed the space between him and Gabby. He rested his hands on her hips, "thank you," he said as he pulled her into him and placed a small kiss on the top of her head.

"Just promise me one thing," Gabby mumbles as she rests the side of her face against his warm chest.

"Anything," he replies as he feels himself settle into her touch.

"Promise me that you will be careful and listen to your sister and what she wants."

"I will do my best."

They stayed in their embrace until the Gabby's phone rang, "I should probably get that," she said giving Matt a quick peck on the lips and then walked over to the kitchen table where her phone was.

"Hello," She greeted caller.

Matt watched as she answered the phone, he knew there was more they needed to discus tonight, but right now his mind was consumed with how Jim could do this to his sister. He didn't realize that Gabby was done with her phone call until she was standing in front of him.

"Baby," she addressed him bringing him back into the room.

"Yeah?" he asked with an apologetic look, "who was that on the phone?"

"That was Hermann," She told him as she pointed to the phone. "He was calling to find out if I had a chance to talk to you yet."

"Talk to me about what?"

"Matt, I don't know if you have noticed, but things at work have been difficult and it causing issues."

"I know things are not ideal but we will work through them."

"I know we will, but a lieutenant does not vent a roof and the guys are seeing this. I really think that we should put some space between us at work and that is why I'm asking you to let me Shadow Hermann."

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

"I want to be treated like any other candidate and not have some gossipy fire fighters making comments of how I'm sleeping with the boss."

"Alright shadow Hermann, but there is some perks when you sleep with the boss," Matt smirked as he ran his hand up and down Gabby's arm.

"I'm sure there are some wonderful perks, but dinner is almost ready and my fiancée is very hungry."

"Trust me, it's not for dinner," Matt says as he watches her walk into the kitchen.

That night after dinner, Matt and Gabby laid in bed, each one lost in their own thoughts. Gabby was the first one to break the silence as she turned on her side to look at Matt's still body. "What do you think Jim is really going to do?"

Matt takes a moment to collect his thoughts, "Honestly, I don't know." Matt then shifts so that he is facing Gabby and resting his head into his hand. "I just want him to do what is right for his family."

"I hope he does," she tells him reaching out to run her fingers through his hair.

Matt closes his eyes as he enjoys her simplest of touches, then encloses her wrist and lays a light kiss in her palm. "Are you nervous about shift tomorrow?"

"No," she begins to say but realizes right now they both need to lay all their cards on the table. "I just know that if this doesn't work, I can't stay at 51."

"Gabby," Matt begins to say her name as he sits up a little higher.

"I'm not saying I want to, but this isn't just about you and me. Even the guys don't treat me like Mills or all the other candidates that came before me. All this week, I was leaving the compartment doors open on the truck in hopes that one of them would say something to me, but they didn't. You know that if it would have been someone else they would have wrapped their knuckles."

"So what happened?" Matt asked with smirk.

"Hermann and I got into it a little bit and that is how this whole thing came about."

"What did Hermann say?"

"Don't worry about it. I just wanted you to know that if this doesn't work with me being on truck, it will not affect our relationship, I love you too much."

"I love you too," Matt smiled as he leaned down and placed a kiss on Gabby's lips.

Author's note:

So I hope that you guys like my new story, I really would love to hear what you think. I can't wait for the new episode tomorrow and I'm excited to see the rest of this season. I just hope that the cliffhanger (Dec. 2nd) won't kill me like it did last year. Well thanks to everyone for reading this chapter and I hope you will be reading the next.


	2. Chapter Two: Keeping you Safe

Chapter Two: Keeping you Safe

Matt paced his office floor as he held the information Newhouse had provided him with. He knew once he was off shift, he was going to confront Jim and make him choose. He just hoped that his plan wouldn't backfire. He hoped that there was some decency still left in him and he would see the mistake he was making.

He heard a light knock on the door and turned to find Gabby standing in the doorway, she leaned against the hard frame as she looked him over with concern filtered on her face. "How did it go?" she asked knowing by the look on his face and the tension in his body that his meeting with Jim didn't go according to plan.

"He plans to screw her over," Matt stated as he tightened his jaw and let out a sigh at the same time.

Gabby stepped further into the room and closed the door behind her; she knew that the rest of the firehouse didn't need to know what was going on with Matt's family. "What do you have there?" Gabby asked as he narrowed her eyes to the papers in his hand.

He looked down to where her eyes held their stare, "I had Newhouse do some digging on Jim's new girlfriend past," he stated as he held the paper up. "Apparently, she has gotten into some trouble in Atlanta."

Gabby took the papers he presented her and began to read through them. Her eyes widened with the new information, but also with the fact that she knew Matt wasn't just going to sit on these. "What are you going to do with this?"

"Whatever I have to," he replied taking the papers out of Gabby's hand and through them on the desk. "He is going to leave her with nothing," Matt begin to say, but was quickly cut off by Gabby.

"So you're going to blackmail him?"

"I'm going to make sure that Christy and Violet are taken care of." Matt was puzzled by the expression on Gabby's face, "I thought you said you would support me on this?"

"I do, I just worry Matt. I know how things like this can get out of control and I just want to make sure you're safe."

Matt took a step closer and placed his hand on the side of Gabby's face, "This conversation sounds a little familiar," he stated with a light chuckle.

"Roles are reversed now," Gabby replied leaning up to his lips and placing a kiss on them. She then stepped back, "I should probably get back out there before Herrmann comes looking for me."

"Hey you wanted this remember?"

Gabby laughed as she nodded her head, "I know, I know."

Matt watched as Gabby left his office, he still couldn't get over and every time he thought about his family lives being displaced because of the asshole husband of his sister, his anger boiled over. He quickly grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair and moved towards the kitchen.

"Let's go for a ride," he said into the room and all of the members of truck 81 stood up and followed their Lieutenant out to the apparatus floor. As Gabby climbed into the truck with her jacket in her arms, she knew that what Matt had in mind wasn't something she would be happy with.

Cruz pulled the truck onto the drive and turned onto the street, Matt glanced back at Gabby who could read the look in his clear blue eyes. She knew right now was not the time to talk him out of this and once it was the right time, it would be too late. So instead of being his fiancée, she became his candidate and followed his orders. She didn't say anything when Matt began to talk on his phone or when he gave Cruz directions to the location they were headed. She bit her lower lip knowing that all the guys were wondering what was going on and it wasn't her place to inform them.

When the truck stopped outside a tall building in downtown Chicago, Matt climbed out with the white paper in his hand as he stalked towards the doors of the restaurant. With each step closer, his anger became more prevalent. Once inside his eyes scanned the somewhat busy restaurant and soon located Jim standing at the end of the bar with two other men dressed in suits.

Gabby checked her watch for the thousand time since Matt had gone in after his soon to be ex-brother in law. She listened as all the guys speculated as to what he was doing inside, each one of them would look over at her for some indication if their guess was right. She would either shrug her shoulders or ignore them completely. After a few more minutes she spotted Matt coming closer to the truck, his rock hard expression that was displayed on his features, gave a little away to how the conversation went inside.

"Back to station," he ordered once he was adjusted to his seat.

Either one of them spoke about what happened between him in Jim throughout the rest of their shift. It wasn't until he found her in the locker room talking with Herman that he decided to speak to her about something outside of work. He informed her that he was going to go to his sisters and she surprised him when she asked if she could come.

As they left the firehouse, Matt wrapped his arm around Gabby's shoulder, pulling him into him. "Thank you for coming with me," he told her as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

Gabby then placed her hand on the lower part of Matt's back and looked into his eyes, "I would go anywhere with you."

"Anywhere?"

"Yup, even when I don't have a choice," she eyed him knowing that he would catch onto what she was saying.

Matt looked around as all of their co-workers walked to their cars, "Can we talk about this when we get into the truck?" Gabby just nodded her head.

They both climbed in and placed their bags in seat of the cab, Matt started the truck and put into to gear. "I told Jim that if he didn't reconfigure his offer, then I was going to turn in his new girlfriend to the police."

Gabby looked out the window at all the buildings passing by them, "I know," she replied without even looking at him. She then placed her hand on his leg, "I know you want to help your family and that is one of the reasons, I love you." Matt then removed his hand from the wheel and placed it over Gabby's. They continued in silence as they drove to Christy's new apartment.

When they arrived, Christy greeted each of them with a hug and told them of the great news. Jim had a change of heart and decided that he was going to take the house of the market and offered more child support. Matt couldn't help but smile as he saw how relieve Christy looked. He knew that he would do it all over again, if it meant that they were going to be okay.

Matt and Gabby stayed a couple of hours, helping Christy as she began to pack up their lives again. For the first time in along time, Matt felt like he actually had a family. He was engaged to most amazing woman he had ever meant and now his relationship with his sister and niece was becoming stronger with each passing day. When it was time to say goodnight, Matt felt apprehensive to leave. He was enjoying their time together, but he knew that Christy was tried; he could see it in her eyes. She quickly reassured him that she was fine and that she would talk to him tomorrow.

Matt took Gabby's hand as they drove back to their apartment, both of them smiled at one another. They were both relieved that everything seemed to be working out in their personal life and their work life. Once they reached their apartment, they were both tired from the last couple of days. Gabby slid her jacket off and hung it over the side of the couch, "I'm going to get ready for bed," she stated as she pulled her hair tie out of her hair.

Matt moved closer and placed his hands on both sides of her hips, "would you like some help?"

Gabby raised her eyebrows and smirked, "Are you offering to undress me?"

Before Matt could answer, his phone sounded off in his pocket, "How about you get started and I'll take care of this," Matt said as he took his phone out of his pocket.

"Don't be long," Gabby teased as she moved towards their bedroom.

Matt watched her for a second longer and then moved his attention to his phone, the call read unknown on his screen. "Hello," he answered unsure of who would be calling him.

"Blackmail is a nasty business Matt and your about to find out," the voice told him before the line went dead.

Author's Note:

Hello to all you Chicago Fire fans! I apologize that it took so long to update this story, but work and life have kept me very busy. I hope to update again at some point this week and I hope that you guys will continue to read this story. Thank you for all the wonderful feedback.

Grace


	3. Chapter 3: No Regrets

Chapter Three: No Regrets

Matt looked down at the phone in his hand. Confusion and concern played over his face as his replayed what the person on the other end of the phone said to him. He knew who was behind the message, but it still made him feel a little uneasy.

"Matt?" Gabby called from the doorway of the bedroom. She watched as she stood in place and knew that he was in another world right now. "Matt," she said again as she made her way over to him. He jumped at the contact of her hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Matt replied as he placed his cell phone in his pocket and gave Gabby a small smile.

"Are you sure?" Gabby asked as she ran her hand up to the side of his face.

"Yeah, I'm just tired; this week has been very draining."

"I guess it has. Who was on the phone?" she asked narrowing her eyes to let him know that she really wasn't buying what he saying.

"Just some guy calling about some repair jobs," Matt said as he moved around his fiancée. "I thought you were going to bed," he stated hoping to change the subject.

"I was, but then I realized that it is no fun to go to bed alone," she told him as she turned around to face him.

"So is this your way of telling me we are both going to bed?" he asked with a smile.

"No, this is me telling you that I don't sleep when you are not next to me."

"Well we can't have that," Matt said as he placed his hand out for her to grab. Gabby closed the gap and placed his small hand in his much bigger one and let him guide them into their bedroom. Matt quickly changed out of his clothes, as Gabby got comfortable in their bed; she watched him as he moved around and as he placed his watch on the dresser. She loved how easily he moved and the way he carried himself, it always something that drove her to him, his confidence.

Matt climbed into bed and wrapped his arms around Gabby. He closed his eyes as the scent of her vanilla bean lotion filled his nostrils. He could feel part of his body relax just by touching her, but as much as he tried he couldn't shake the feeling annoying him at the pit of his stomach. It was hard to explain why it was bothering him so much, he knew that Jim was probably just upset that Matt was able to black ball him into giving Christy some of that money he was trying to hide from him, but the tone in his voice was different from all the times before he spoken to him. Matt was lost in his thoughts for so long that he didn't even realize that Gabby's breathing had become heavier and her body became limb in his arms. A small smile spread across his face as he placed a light kiss on her forehead. This is all he needed in the world.

Gabby woke up earlier in the morning, as much as wanted to she couldn't go back to sleep. She laid there in the bed a few moments thinking about everything she had to do today. She then looked over at Matt who was still a sleep, a smile spread across her face as she watched him. She decided that she was going to go for a jog and then make them breakfast. She slowly climbed out of the warm covers and tipped toed around the room to quietly grab her running clothes. Once she was dressed, she wrote a little note to Matt letting him know that she would be home in an hour and not to fix anything, she would take care of it when she came back. She set the note on the kitchen table and left the apartment.

Matt woke up with the sun pouring in from the window on the far side of the bedroom. He began to stretch his body as I yawn escaped his mouth; he then placed a hand out for Gabby, but found nothing there. His eyes opened to where her sleeping form usually is and then he searched the room, but found no presence of her. He slowly climbed out of the bed and went straight to the kitchen. To his surprise, Gabby was not there, but as he turned to check the bathroom, he found a piece a paper on the table. He walked over to it and picked it up, a light chuckle sounded as he read her last line, she knew him too well.

He decided that since Gabby wasn't home and that she banned him from cooking anything; he would take a quick shower before she got home. Matt was washing his hair when he heard his phone ring. _Damn it, _he thought as he quickly rinsed out his hair and then quickly shut off the water. He had been expecting a phone call from his sister letting him know what time he needed to be over at her apartment to help her move today. He jumped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around himself as he reached for his phone. He then saw that he hadn't missed a call, but a received a text message from a number he didn't recognize, he began to scroll through the photos and instantly anger began to build up in his body. They were pictures of Gabby running while listening to music, Matt quickly scrolled through picture after picture; bile began to rise from his stomach. He finally reached the end of the pictures with a caption, watch your back.

He quickly dialed Gabby's number and began to pace the bathroom floor waiting for her to pick up. By the fourth ring, her voicemail came on. Matt began to panic and thoughts of what could happen to her piled up in his mind. He tried calling her again and again, but no answer. He ran out of the bathroom and began to get dress; he was going to look for her. But as he through on his shirt, he heard the front door to the apartment open. He ran out of the bedroom to find Gabby walking in, with her headphones in a slight sweat over her skin. He didn't say anything as he pulled her into his arms and held her as tight as he could.

"Matt?" Gabby asked caught off guard. "What is going on?"

"Nothing," he replied still holding her, "I just missed you."

"I missed you too," she said as she placed a kiss on his cheek. She knew that something was bothering him, she could feel it in the way he held her, but she didn't want to push him. She knew that when he was ready to talk about it, he would open up to him.

Author's Note:

Hello to all of you, I hope that you are enjoying this Friday. Thank you for all reviews and to all of you for reading this story, I'm so glad that many of you like it. I plan on updating again very soon, so please be on the look out.

Thanks

Grace


	4. Chapter 4: Hiding it away

Chapter Four: Hiding it away

Matt stepped out of the front door of the apartment with his backpack slung over his shoulder; he eyed the vehicles parked on the street looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"Baby," Gabby said to him as she closed he door, "I was thinking that after shift we could go get breakfast or something," she turned to face him, but noticed that he wasn't paying attention. "Babe," she called out again standing in front of him.

"Yeah, whatever you," want he replied taking a step onto the sidewalk.

"What is going on with you?" she asked knowing that whatever he was hiding from her was really eating at him.

He opened his mouth to reassure her that he was fine, but quickly closed it when he saw the look in her eyes. "Can we talk about it after shift?" he asked.

"Fine," she said walking a head of him. She hated the fact that he was keeping something from her.

Matt didn't say anything as he followed behind her to his truck, he knew that he was pissing her off by not telling her what she wanted to know, but he didn't want to worry her over a few pictures that didn't mean anything. He climbed into the truck and then leaned over to unlock the other side for Gabby. She got in and instantly buckled her seat belt and then set her bag at her feet. She didn't say anything to Matt the rest of the ride to the firehouse, her mind was searching for the reason he had been so distant.

"Where here," Matt said as he parked the truck, Gabby sat still in her seat a second longer until she realized that they were actually in front of the station. She had been so lost in her thoughts she didn't even remembering the drive over. She felt Matt place his hand on her leg.

"I know that you're upset with me and…"

"I just want you to be honest with me," she cut him as she turned to face him.

He nodded his head as he remembered the last time she spoke those words to her, "I know and I promise to tell you everything after shift, that way we can really talk it out."

Gabby took a deep breath and slowly released it as she thought over what Matt had said to her. "Alright," she sighed, "We will talk after shift."

Matt leaned in and placed a kiss on her lips, "I love you."

"I love you too," she said before getting out of the warm truck and beginning the walk to inside the fire house. They walked side by side, doing their best not to make contact with one another. This was the hardest part of their arrangement, not being able to do the simplest of things in their relationship, but they both understood what it meant to have Gabby at 51.

They made their way inside and into the familiar locker room; each one going to the respective spot and quickly began to change out. Matt took a quick glance at Gabby as she pulled her shirt over her head; he loved watching her even in the smallest of movements. There isn't anything in this world that he would do for her.

"Lieutenant," Herrmann's voice called through the locker room brining Matt to where he was.

"Yeah," he turned around to find his second standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"Chief is looking for you and Severide."

"Oh," Matt said as he closed his locker. "Thanks Herrmann," he told him as he walked past.

"Dawson are you ready for some more drills?" Matt heard as he left the locker room causing him to laugh a little.

Gabby had to control her eye roll; she gave Herrmann a smile and a nod of her head. He then turned on his heals, which meant that she should follow. He led her out to the apparatus floor, where he had already laid out the gear and hoses. "You are going to do a blind fire drill, connecting the hoses together. You got it?"

"Yeah, I got it," Gabby says as she begins to put on the gear. She knew that she had asked for Herrmann to take her off of Casey's hip, but these drills were killing her, not because they were difficult, but because she had already learned this stuff in the academy. She quickly put the mask on and waited for Herrmann to count down to begin the drill.

Once Gabby was done with the drill, she cleaned up all the equipment and went back inside to clean up and get ready for lunch. On her way to the bathrooms, she spotted Matt walking towards her, when their eyes made contact a smile spread as across his face. "How did it go?" he asked.

"Fine," Gabby replied knowing that he was going to tease her about this when they got home. "I'm actually getting faster," she smirked.

"Well I would hope so, seeing that it has become a daily thing."

"I'm sure that once Herrmann catches on, he'll find something else for me to do."

Matt leaned in a little closer as his eyes darted around the hallway to make sure no one else was around, "I'm sure I could find something for you to do too."

"Well Lieutenant, what I think your implying is not very professional, so it would have to wait until we got home," Gabby played along. She then cleared her throat, "I need to wash up so that I can make lunch."

"Don't let me stop you," Matt through his hands up in the air.

Gabby walked past him without saying anything else, as she pushed open the door to the bathroom; she turned to get one last look at Matt. Even thought they had been teasing each other back and forth, she could see that he was trying to act as if nothing was bothering him.

It wasn't long after lunch that Truck 81, Ambulance 61, and Squad 3 were called to a scene of a car accident on Wabash and Whacker. Truck 81 went straight to work on a mini van that had collided with a telephone pole, while Squad went to work on a SUV that had been flipped onto its side. Casey and Otis worked on getting the driver out as Gabby and Herrmann worked on the opening the back door to reach two little kids trapped in the back. Gabby did her best to calm the little girl in the back the crying for her mother. She explained to the little that the firemen where doing their best to get her mom out and they were doing the same for her. The girl began to calm down, which made it easier for Gabby and Herrmann to work. They got the door and open and quickly got the girl out of the van and over to the paramedics.

Once they were able to clear the scene, everyone packed up and went back to the house. As they pulled into the station, Otis was the first one to notice that something was off. "Casey isn't that your truck?" he pointed as they all climbed.

Casey lifted his head over to the direction of where his truck was parked and noticed that all the windows were busted out. "Shit," he mumbled as he ran over to inspect the damage done. All four windows had been shattered; he ran his hands through his blonde hair and began to look around, his eyes found a pair of worried brown eyes that were directed at him.


	5. Chapter Five: Wake Up

Chapter Five: Wake Up

Matt crossed his arms over his chest as he answered the last question from the officer. He was very frustrated with not being able to answer the questions with other then I don't know. Once the line of questioning was completed Matt shook the officer's hand and turned on his heels to go back into firehouse. He walked into the common area in hopes of finding Gabby, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Check the bathroom," Herrmann said looking up from his card game with Otis.

"Thanks," Matt said with a nod of his head. He wasn't surprised to find Gabby scrubbing the showers; she always cleaned when she was upset about something.

"If you are trying to be candidate of the year, you have already earned that honor a couple of nights ago," Matt smiled hoping that she would somehow let go of whatever was bothering her.

Gabby turned her attention from the tile wall to him, her eyes narrowed and her jaw tighten, "that is how you want to play this off?" she asked.

"Gabby," he began to explain, but was cut off by her voice.

"Don't Gabby me," she said as she set the scrub bush down and took off the yellow gloves. "I asked you to tell me what was wrong and you told me that you would tell me after shift, but now this happens," she pauses as she wipes the top of her brow with the back of her hand. "I just need you to talk to me and tell me what is going on."

"Okay," Matt states as he moves closer to her. "Since this whole thing with Jim and Christy happened, I have been getting weird messages."

"What kind of messages?" Gabby asked with traces of worry laced in her voice.

"Just stupid shit, I think its just Jim trying to stir up shit because he is pissed over the outcome of everything went down."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Because I didn't want you to worry over nothing and that is what this is nothing," Matt stated as he placed his hand on Gabby's shoulder.

Gabby stepped back away from his touch, "Apparently this is way much more then you care to admit, your truck windows just got smashed in!" Gabby raised her voice. "What do you think will happen next?"

"Babe you are over reacting," he states with a sigh.

"Don't you dare," Gabby said with a new fire in her eyes after his last comment. "We both know how these things can escalate."

"Fine," Matt said knowing that she wasn't going to let this go. "After shift I will call Antonio and tell him what is going on."

"No," Gabby said as she stepped closer to him. She stepped onto her toes as she leaned into his ear, "you are going to call him now, because if you don't there will be no repeated performances from the other night," Gabby didn't wait for his response as she left him standing in the bathroom.

Matt knew that Gabby was right; he shouldn't be playing this off like nothing happened. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone, he scrolled through the contacts until he found Antonio's number, and then he hit the call button.

"Hello," Antonio's voice sounded through the phone after the second ring.

"Hey Antonio it's Matt."

"Hey man, how are things going?"

"Things are going good for the most part," he told him.

"Anything I can help with?"

"Actually that is why I'm calling. I don't know how much Gabby has told you about my sister and her divorce."

"She hasn't said much just that your sister's husband was trying to cut her out of some money."

"Yeah, it got pretty messy, but there is more. Since I've helped my sister, I have been receiving some messages on my phone and today while on a call my truck windows were smashed in."

"Say no more, I'm on it," Antonio replied with no hesitation.

"Thanks man, I owe you."

"That's what family is for," Antonio told him with a light chuckle.

Matt thanked him again before hanging up the phone. He could feel a weight lift off of him after speaking with Antonio, but he knew that whatever this thing with Jim would not go away with just one conversation, he just had to watch his back and keep his eyes open.

At the end of shift, Severide volunteered to give Matt and Gabby a ride home, since Matt's truck had been picked up by a local garage to be fixed. Once the overly tired couple walked into their apartment, they both set the bags on the floor. Without saying anything to Matt, Gabby went into their bedroom and changed out of her work clothes and into a pair of shorts and loose t-shirt. Matt watched her as he stood in the doorway, since leaving the firehouse; she hadn't spoken a word to him.

"Are you still upset?" he asked before stepping into the bedroom.

Gabby looked up at him, "I just don't know why you don't tell me things," she stated as she moved to the side of her bed and pulled down the blankets.

"I told you Gabby, that I didn't want to worry you and I was going to tell you this morning."

"I know Matt, but worrying about you is part of my job as your fiancée. You can hide things to protect me, I can handle it."

"I know you can baby," he said as he moved to her. "I promise that if anything else happens, I will tell you right away," he said before placing a kiss on her lips. He slowly wrapped his hands around her, to deepen the kiss, but Gabby pulled back. "Don't worry; I called your bother right after you left the bathroom."

"Good," Gabby said with a smile and then brought her lips back to his.

Author's Note:

Sorry there hasn't been an update in a little while, but I promise to update again this coming week (I just don't know what day). I hope that you are still following along with story. Thanks for all the reviews and for reading this story.


	6. Chapter Six: The Warning Signs

Chapter Six: The Warning Signs

Matt heard a slight on knock on the front door to the apartment; he quickly removed himself from the comfort of his couch and made his way to answer the door for Antonio. Antonio called him about an hour ago to tell him some information he found about Jim. Since he received the phone call from his soon to be brother-in-law, Matt did his best to distract himself by flipping through the channels of the TV.

He opened the door to the dark haired man; he could see the dark circles that lay under his eyes. He knew that Antonio was going through a lot personally and professionally and he was grateful to him for taking the time out of his day to be looking into to something that might not really be anything.

"Hey man," Antonio greeted as they each through one arm around each of their shoulders.

"Come on in," Matt said as he stepped back and opened the door wider for Antonio to walk through. Once Antonio past through the entry way, Matt closed the door and followed him into the living room.

"Is Gabby here?" Antonio asked looking around the apartment for signs of his sister.

"No, she is working at Molly's tonight," Matt spoke and then asked the question that was most on his mind, "So you found some information on Jim?" Matt asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Not on Jim so much but something that is linked to your situation," Antonio said looking directly at Matt. "We checked out Jim and nothing came back that we didn't already know, but when we ran a background check on his girlfriend, we found something."

"I already know about her bench warrant," Matt said releasing a breath of frustration. He was hoping that whatever Antonio found was going to be useful.

"Hold on there is more, we discovered not only that she has a warrant out for her arrest, but her bother is a known felon in the Atlanta area. He has a slew of charges against him, some of them dropped and some he did time for."

"What does this have to do with me?" Matt wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"He is here in Chicago," Antonio stated. "I need to know what exactly happened between you and Jim and then everything else that happened after that."

Matt felt a shiver run down his spine, as fast as he could he told Antonio the whole story and how he blackmailed Jim's girlfriend, so that Kristy could build a life for herself and Violet. He even told him about the messages he received with the photos of Gabby's morning jog.

"Matt, why didn't you say anything?" Antonio asked.

"I really thought it was Jim trying to scare me." Matt stayed silent for a second as his mind raced with a thousand questions; his eyes grew wide when the next question came to his mind. "What was he arrest for?"

"Multiple counts of aggravated assault."

Matt froze in his place as chills ran through his body.

Gabby closed up the bar for the night, she yawned as she removed her key from the front of Molly's and turned on her heals to climb down the few steps to the paved sidewalk. She reached into her pocket to pull out her cell phone, but found that through the night her phone had died. "Shit," she mumbled to herself as she placed it back into her pocket. She then reached into her purse and pulled out her car keys. Once she walked towards her parked in the cover of night, she loved nights like this, where the streets in Chicago were silent and she was alone, it somehow gave the impression that this was all her's. She unlocked her car and opened the door as when went to slide into the vehicle; a hand grabbed her upper arm and pulled her back towards the sidewalk.

Gabby went to scream, but a hand was instantly placed over her open mouth and then removed his hand. Her eyes wide in fear stared directly into the man's eyes that now held both of her shoulders and hovered over her as he pushed her back into back window of her car. She was so caught off guard that she wasn't able to fight back. He squeezed hard, Gabby could feel instant pain shoot through arm and spread throughout her body and he shoved her into the car again.

"Listen Bitch," he yelled at her as he pressed her harder into the car and shook her shoulders. "You better tell the fireman of your's that he best watch his back, he doesn't know who is messing with."

Gabby was incomplete shock, but managed to shake her head to let him know that she understood his message. Within a second or more, the man was gone, leaving Gabby alone. She shook with fear and tears began to fall from her eyes. Her breath shaky as she slowly climbed back into her car, her hands still shaking as she took hold of the steering wheel. _I just need to get home, _she told herself over and over again as the car moved in the direction of her apartment. It happened so fast, it felt like a dream, but the pain that throbbed through her chest and upper arms told her that was in fact not a dream, but reality.

Matt grabbed his jacket and keys, he had tried calling Gabby, but every time the call went straight to voicemail. He was extremely worried about her after Antonio's visit. He first began pacing the apartment knowing that she would be home soon, but when he glanced up at the clock for the millionth time, he realized that she was later then normal. He then began to call her.

He locked the apartment behind him and made his way down the flight of stairs to his truck, but before he climbed in he noticed Gabby's car was parked in its normal place on the street. He closed the truck door and ran to her car, his heart raced as he approached, but was in complete relief when he saw her sitting there. A smile graced his face, but quickly disappeared as he saw tears were running down her face and her knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel.

"Gabby," he called her out to her, but no response, she continued to stare forward. "Gabby," he said again as he reached for the door handle and tried to pull it but it was locked.

Gabby heard the sound of the door handle pull up drawing her back into reality. Gabby turned and jumped a little to see a man standing next to her car; it took her a moment to realize that it was Matt. Tears began to release from her brown eyes again as she saw him. 

"Gabby unlock the door," he said with confusion and worry filling his features.

Gabby unlocked the door and Matt quickly opened it as she flung herself into his arms. Tears and sobs racked her body as she situated in his embrace. Matt wrapped his arms around her, holding her as her body shook.

"It's going to be okay baby," Matt said kissing the top of her head. "What happened?"

"Not here," Gabby said stepping back from Matt.

"Okay," Matt replied not allowing Gabby to step too far away from him.

Gabby collected herself as they made their way to the safety of their apartment. Gabby was still a little shook up from what happened, but she was able to focus on the fact that she and Matt were home and safe. Once inside, Gabby took a seat on the couch as she placed her purse on the floor next to her. Matt squatted down in front of her and placed both hands on each of her knees, "talk to me."

"After I locked up Molly's, I was walking to my car and this guy grabbed me,"

Matt's eyes grew wide, "are you hurt?" he asked looking her over.

"I'm fine," Gabby said

"Did he hurt you?"

"No," she said knowing that it wasn't completely true.

"Why didn't you call the police?"

"Matt listen," Gabby said with more directness then she intended. "He wanted me to warn you, he said that you should watch your back."

Author's Note:

I hope that you guys had a wonderful holiday and I hope that you get to enjoy your New Year. I apologize for the lack of updates, but life gets in the way. I hope to update within in the next week, but I make no promises. Thanks for all the great reviews and to everyone that has read this story.


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